Squirrel Power at Moderna

I've got to hand it to Anna Wessman for getting the best of the Moderna Exhibition. Her installation Don't tell anyone I said so... was haussed in all the major reviews. One should not underestimate the central placement of the piece as a factor in this, but it also contains most of the elements needed to make Scandinavian critics take notice these days: a stuffed animal, a message of social critique, and a sense of nordic melancholy.

The central idea of the piece is "freedom of speech", and though I find the issue increasingly important in this day of rapidly deteriorating democracies in the western hemisphere, I can't help but thinking that Wessman's take on the problem is rather shallow. Where's the analysis that goes beyond the selfevident "It's important to speak your mind!" and "We're all a bit scared right now..."

On the other hand I have to admit that Don't tell anyone I said so... is very aesthetically effective. I mean, you pretty much have to love a squirrel having a go at public speaking, don't you? If I was Joey from the sit com Friends I'd probably conclude "It's a squirrel. Goood! Freedom of speech. Goooood! What's not to like?"

But then again, I'm not Joey.